Any discrepancies between totals and sums of components in this publication are due to rounding.

CPI DATA RE-REFERENCED TO JUNE 1998 = 100.0

For ease of comparison, the index reference period for the CPI data used throughout this publication has been re-referenced to June quarter 1998 = 100.0. All index numbers and percentage changes shown are calculated on this basis. This may lead to some minor differences from the figures published in Consumer Price Index, Australia (cat. no. 6401.0)

FORTHCOMING CHANGES

This issue is the last annual release of Analytical Living Cost Indexes for Selected Australian Household Types (cat. no. 6463.0).

Future issues of the Analytical Living Cost Indexes for Selected Australian Household Types (cat. no. 6463.0) will be released quarterly. There will be some consequent changes to the layout of tables to accommodate this.

PERIOD COVERED BY THIS ISSUE

This publication updates the annual analytical living cost indexes for selected Australian households with data up to June quarter 2009. The indexes now cover the period from June quarter 1998 up to and including June quarter 2009.

Prior to June quarter 2006, these indexes were published annually in the Australian Economic Indicators, (cat. no. 1350.0). For these earlier releases, see the articles in:

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Lee Taylor on Canberra (02) 6252 6251, email <lee.taylor@abs.gov.au>.

SUMMARY COMMENTARY

KEY POINTS

The Analytical Living Cost Indexes (ALCI) for Selected Australian Household Types have been designed to answer the question:

'By how much would after tax money incomes need to change to allow households to purchase the same quantity of consumer goods and services that they purchased in the base period?'

The four quarters from June 2008 to June 2009 saw changes in living costs ranging from a low of -0.7% (employee households) to a high of 2.8% (age pensioner households). The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 1.5% over the same period.

Over the eleven year period covered by the ALCIs, changes in living costs for each household type have historically tracked closely to the CPI. The living costs of age pensioner and other government transfer recipient households showed the highest increase of 41.5%, slightly higher than the 38.0% increase in the CPI. Self-funded retiree households have experienced an increase of 37.5%. The living costs of employee households increased by 39.2%.

These differences have come about for a number of reasons. The inclusion of mortgage interest and consumer credit charges in the analytical living cost indexes has a significant impact for employee and other government transfer recipient households. The inclusion of mortgage interest and consumer credit charges and the different treatments of housing and insurance in the ALCIs result in variations between the ALCIs and the CPI series. The expenditure patterns of those households measured by the ALCIs differ from those of the overall household sector covered by the CPI. This also contributes to differences in the percentage changes.

For a discussion of the relationship between the ALCIs and CPI, see the Explanatory Notes.